regfootball

Well, if it were offered to retail, it would give GM a compact CUV..something to compete w/ the Patriot, Escape, CR-V, Rav-4, Tucson, Sportage, etc.. i'd take one over all on that list except tucson / sportage and even then the captiva is a higher quality piece.

agree. i prefer the vue too. equinox has a bit more space in the Nox........maybe there will be a nice used Captiva someday in my future.... The moment I saw this article I thought. . . Reg would likely pick up a used one of these. like the vue. ex fleet with say 10-15k miles on it? would be a nice getabout. the equinox' only real functional advantage is rear seat space. the cargo hold on the equinox is not efficient. the vue has a little better visibility. with the new 6 speed it would be nice. i hope they tweaked the console a bit. Keep in mind folks, why didn't they fleet the Orlando? Shows ya something when they will even fleet a mega year old vue before an orlando.

agree. i prefer the vue too. equinox has a bit more space in the Nox........maybe there will be a nice used Captiva someday in my future....

this car won't have a stick, and its not for sport per se.....no reason for a handbrake. E brake would make the most sense on this car.

VW's problem was unique. projections were that only 5-10 carmakers would survive globally as superpowers. they knew that one or two of the US makers would stay on that list. They knew the Japanese with a long term quality history would likely be represented with Nissan and Toyota at a minimum. They knew Hyundai would be on there, and there will be Chinese to fear. In it's own country, VW can't compete on luxury or even quality within its own borders, while overbuilding in the sense that they cannot grab for higher prices on the world scale. If VW was to survive, it has to be as a volume automaker globally. Which means they by neccessity had to downgrade their product to keep their profits. If they kept building the higher price stuff, there is still no belief they could match the Japanese on reliability, so eventually they would lose to Japan on both price and quality. So essentially VW by default has to dumb itself down some and become a commodity. VW has to be big to remain relevant globally, because they do not have the ability to survive as a smaller volume maker.

judging by the number one question / interest i have been getting at the auto show.....ALL wheel drive is at the top of customer lists. NO ONE has asked for rear drive. I doubt most folks know which end is driving the car half the time. I think as long as caddy makes this car AWD no one is gonna give a behind about this as a DTS replacement. The next CTS will carry the rwd torch for caddy along with the ATS. In time I am guessing a true S class competitor will come out. Exactly as Drew said...the iNfiniti Q's, M's, GS lexus, not exactly lighting up the world on the sales charts. There is a lot of really old folks out there that want something to replace their DTS with.

not sure what you saw at your autoshow. i worked 20 hrs at ours here and there were no requests for coupes, rear wheel drive, v8's. everyone here at least wants in this order. all wheel drive. fuel economy (like way better than 30 mpg) 20k price. makes me think the Granite is DOA unless they work an AWD into the mix.

oh yes, absolutely.

and then.......

not liking the dash. the shifter is well, .......erotic in some way to some. perhaps. cough. that interior is not the least cohesive or appealing and really can't they just design a tasteful decent interior and give it nice materials?

yu should become a private investigator. imagine the cheating scandals you could uncover! in the meantime, the world loves your shutter. are we sure this is the ATS though? maybe a next gen CTS? all Caddies are kinda getting the same look.....seriously

sarcasm, satchel. regal would be on my list. extremely high, even if its not quick. Regal has one of the best interiors of any car out there. Like the LaCrosse, too. Maybe the v6 wins? i do like the Kizashi enough to have it on the list. Despite the homerism When you consider the camrys of the world, to me its something i could drive as a bread and butter car every day and enjoy it. I won't proclaim the SX4 as 'best' or the Grand Vitara but I do like em. The GV is a bit trucky as its designed and it's still carlike enough and just a decent basic vehicle....needs a 6 speed auto in the worst way. SX4 is cheeky and steers quick / nicely and I like the CVT/paddles + 150hp. my vehicle tastes are evolving. not much in the gotta have dept. I like even the current Malibu, but would only spring for it if the deal were good.. like the cruze....but only the eco, and really don't like the tight interior. A ford Flex ecoboost titanium really has my interest lately. Taurus is prob too big so why not just get the Taurus crossover? MKs is nice. Already tired of the new Explorer! Like the simplicity of the Outlander Sport.....it needs more ponies. CTS coupe is HOT but you can't see out of it. Sort of defeats your ability to drive without incident. The CTS wagon to me is both hot and practical. Like both the SRX and 9-4x, but not sure I would include them on the list. Same for the 9-5 and Volvo S60. If the C30 had a decent dashboard it may be on my list. New Escort looked bland to me in person. I think that may be off the list. eek, meant Focus. Mini Countryman intrigued me. All BMW and Mercedes are repellent to me lately. Audis are boring. VW's are headed down a bad path. Some Hyundais and Kias are ok, but not compelling. I could manage an Optima in a pinch. KTM X-bow? Lotus Evora? Ferarri California? Boxster or Cayman? A simple base Corvette would do it for me certainly. It seems like as the mfrs put out more models, the less impressed I am with all the choices. Too many to pick from perhaps. The new Jaguars really have the best presentation of all the luxury cars IMO. Absolutely fantastic. Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Mazda, not much to stir any interest here. Chrysler's improved interiors really have me liking the 200 now, the vans, the Journey is nice now too but I wouldn't shop for one the crossover competition is too good. the 200's interior changes, v6, and price make it an interesting 'fallback' sleeper sort of car. Regal and Flex might be the only 2 vehicles right now I would instantly be drawn to. And even then the Regal's lack of juice for the price might put me off a bit. Probably means a Flex Titanium ecoboost is my first choice by a sliver, at least today.

the long overhangs will look dorky and dated, hopefully the rest can cover that up so it doesn't look stupid. current bu has nice side proportions but is not wide enough. so then they shrink the wheelbase to an already space challenged design. or, they may do something like make a spacious cabin and trunk, but it will have a crappy interior and huge overhangs. if this car has a crappy interior its not going to matter one bit what they do with the rest of it. interiors mean so much in the market these days. it certainly won't look athletic or graceful apparently.

Before I saw that bar graph, i was going to suggest that half the time regardless people defect to another brand. So it turns out that industry average is 48%. So GM only did 5% better than industry average, which is not statistically significant to most folks... So really there is no achievament here. Likewise, there is no epic failure. So in the end it reverts to whether GM is selling more, making more dough, and having it cost them less to do so. Pontiac used to advertise the 'first G6' or something like that. I don't think anyone was really waiting with baited breath for the second one. Take a look at Saturn. I doubt 50% of the people out there remember Saturn anymore. Mercury? LMAO!!!!!

SX4 sedan SX4 sporthatch SX4 crossover Kizashi sedan Grand Vitara Limited 4WD Equator

it's an is what it is kind of thing. having the equator is probably a nice addition as there are very few mid size trucks. i think really what would benefit this brand the most right now would be a Kiz based crossover added to the lineup, and a new generation of the SX4 that loses the funky front glass. I think if they brought the Swift over it would help too. The Grand Vitara is actually a nice rig......true 4wd system....it could use new styling and an updated powertrain. That might be just enough to kickstart the brand again. I wonder how that VW / Suz tie is going to work. It does not seem as though they would be compatible bed partners. Now a Kizashi with a Chrysler badge on the hood is not an unusual notion....to me at least. I would think leasing these things out would be the best way to jump start the brand again.

truth is it has to survive on mostly used sales. essentially the franch has an older facility that prob was underutilized selling used only.....i am sure they need to hang on to the facility and just find a way to generate some income off of it. so its not so much believing in product as its 5 min. from my house although the products are good. ultimately, its a trial thing for me, and if it carries me a month or two till things come back around after waiting too long already.....well, its a day to day thing.

Hm, a couple of months, and it's down to $16,500: http://cgi.ebay.com/...=item33658cd162 lost value? well son, you can prob buy a new malibu for that these days..........and its worth like what, 12 after a year? if chrysler were smart they would dump the avenger twins and throw their badges on this car.

satty did you spank your woman yet or is her tush large enough so she can't feel it........love those midwestern gurlz

who gets the last laugh! one buyer drove off with a new AWD Kiz for 20 and change the other night. he came back to buy roof racks two days later.........roof rack is built in! would that get you into a FWD Cruze? Dude shopping BMW's was like......'i am not interested in spending 15k extra'.......... new times folks don't want to blow cash on carz not sure how a 20k cruze can be justified......

because VW's are bulletproof........ spank your woman if she can't drive a clutch.....mine can.....but she's a farm girl...........she knows how to ride a stick........sorry about your loss

um, she has never looked HOTTER.

suz.......been in biz since early 1900's..........MINI has been in US since when? second clutch? are they building crap (rhetorical question)? would be nice to nice have that covered!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SX4 has more go juice than that slightly effeminate MINI (yeah, just what are you anyways)!!!!!!!!!!! who wears the pants!!!!!!!!! did that VW break down yet? how is that 4.30 diesel treatin ya!!!!!!!!! bet ya'd like a warranty!

and minis with their 'bulletproof' cvt's......... SOMETHING GREAT IS COMING Satty would be great in the fire protection business because he he is nothing but a wet blanket........ you, sir = badge snob. badge snobs get ripped off!!!!!!!!!!!

"kiss" enjoy your mini, sucka ! let me know when you need to bust that mini out of a mud bog........assuming it holds up that long...... satty the optimist. that Kizashi is a far better use of your money than some mini sort of thing at a minimum......21k for euro tuned ride, AWD, dual temp, sport seats, is a far better buy than say.......CHEVY CRUZE (ducks)